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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29666157">Snowblind</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnserious/pseuds/TheUnserious'>TheUnserious</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>One Piece</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Post-Wano Arc (One Piece), Romance</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 13:40:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,770</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29666157</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheUnserious/pseuds/TheUnserious</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A marine finds the indomitable Strawhat Luffy unconscious in the snow. Sequel to Someone special (kind of).</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Monkey D. Luffy/Yamato</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Snowblind</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Hiking tirelessly through a thick swath of snow, Petty Officer Niles dragged his quarry by its bindings, carving an imperfection through the otherwise pristine blanket of white. The gelid links of the seastone chains were hell to hold, tugging at the flesh of his hands where the skin and stone had fused, but it was worth it. It was worth braving the unforgiving elements and hostile fauna, worth possibly facing the wrath of his superiors for deviating from his task, and it was certainly worth the white hot pain in his hands: the catch was just that valuable. After all, it wasn’t everyday a marine finds one of the most wanted men in the world passed out in a snow drift. </p>
<p>It had been an accident really. The unyielding snow storms of the island meant communication was difficult at best so Niles had been given the thankless job of running messages back and forth between the main base at the islands coast, and the mountaintop patrol outpost. It was messy work, usually given as punishment or ‘special training’ for the rank and file. On his way back to base, Niles had noticed a particularly savage pack of wolves, slowly encircling the half buried form of a person. Thinking the prone figure to be a fellow marine, Niles chased off the pack with a sense of brotherly duty, eager to save his comrade. What he found instead was a young man, clearly unconscious and a little haggard around the edges, like he had just come from a brawl. But Niles wasn't looking too much at his battle damage. No, his attention was focused solely on the straw hat tied around the man's neck.</p>
<p>As a soldier of the sea, Niles was a difficult man to intimidate. A lifetime of fighting pirates in the Grand Line tended to make the survivors hardy enough that they could simply put fear on the back burner in most situations. However, one glance at that innocuous hat was all it took for a cold to descend upon Niles that had nothing to do with the snow storm. </p>
<p>After momentarily considering the possibility that he was hallucinating, Niles became acutely aware that a very dangerous man was at his mercy, and that he just so happened to have a pair of seastone handcuffs in his pack. If he presented this man in chains to his superiors, he was almost guaranteed a promotion as well as (more importantly) a relocation to somewhere far away from this frozen hellhole. And so, Petty Office NIles found himself as the impromptu warden of emperor of the sea, Strawhat Luffy.</p>
<p>“Not long now, keep moving...don’t think about the cold...don’t think about it,” the marine mumbled to himself, trying his best to ignore the rapid numbing of his fingers and toes. He hadn’t really thought about what he would do should the pirate wake up, choosing instead to trust in the effectiveness of the seastone and hoping that his faith in the cuffs wouldn’t have to be tested. He re-adjusted his rifle to have quick access, just in case, and soldiered on through the snow.</p>
<p>After several long minutes of trudging, Niles’ heart soared at the sight of the familiar landmark that indicated he was nearing his destination: a dilapidated shack clustered amongst a small family of pine trees. The ram-shackle building was well known amongst the men of the base as a safe haven, a place to get good and drunk on your break away from overbearing officers and their naval code. A grin split Niles’ face at the thought of the hideout's tiny fireplace. It wouldn’t hurt to warm himself up for a moment or two. His optimism reignited, Niles surged forward, taking a moment to throw his charge over his shoulder for the sake of expediency. Probably won't wake for a while anyway he thought to himself.</p>
<p>The inside of the shack was much the same as the outside, bland and sparse, permeated with stale air. The rotted wooden walls weren’t adorned with much of anything except for a single window covered by a ratty looking brown curtain that could possibly have been considered white at some point in the past. A dust covered table surrounded by a couple of chairs sat in the center of the room, but Niles was much more interested in the small, cast iron chiminea by the back wall. Leaning his captive gingerly against the wall, Niles set about starting a fire, snapping one of the chairs into suitable kindling so he could avoid having to scrounge up some regular wood from outside.. A fair amount of fumbling around with his lighter using frostbitten fingers later, and Niles had the makings of a comfy hearth with which he could thaw his icy body. He sighed in relief and took a seat next to the unconscious man, as close to the heating iron as he could. </p>
<p>With nothing better to do other than wait for the chill to leave his bones, Niles studied his company, deciding that he probably wasn’t going to get another opportunity to get this good a look at one of history's most feared pirates. They were in short supply after all.</p>
<p>He was wearing a heavy-duty, ankle length red coat that wouldn’t look out of place in a fashion store with his trademark hat hanging loosely around his neck. Any practicality offered by the coat lost all meaning however, in the face of the fact that the madman was wearing sandals in subzero weather. His face was boyish: somewhat betraying his fearsome reputation, though Niles supposed that his unconscious state attributed to that at least a little. A mess of raven black hair sat atop his head without the pretense of a set style, adding to his youthful appearance. For the most part, he was nothing like Niles had imagined.</p>
<p>“You and your crew cause as much chaos as you do, yet you look young enough to be my kid” he chuckled to himself between breaths of blowing hot air onto his hands before a stray thought came to the forefront of his mind. Where were his crewmates? With their captain stranded, half buried on a snowy mountain there could only really be two possibilities. Either there had been a mutiny and the captain had been left for dead or, the more terrifying possibility, the small but overwhelmingly powerful crew were somewhere close by. Images of being diced up by the demonic Pirate Hunter or pummeled by Black Leg began to flood Niles mind and he became jumpy at every sound coming from outside his hideout.</p>
<p>It was this heightened sense of fear that made him aware of the faint echo of squeaking snow that could be heard between the violent gusts of wind. He scrambled for his rifle, taking up a position underneath the rattling panes of the buildings only window and making sure that any outsider looking in could not spot him. He held his breath lest his pounding heart give him away and strained his ear to differentiate the presence of something from the natural sounds of the mountain.</p>
<p>Crunch...Crunch</p>
<p>The sound was louder now and grew louder by the second. Okay, definitely someone out there Niles thought to himself Don’t panic, it might be another marine, his optimism was betrayed by the sweat pooling on his forehead and the slight shaking of his musket in his grip. It was at this moment that the figure outside moved close enough to cast a long, unnerving shadow that sliced through the already scarce light shining through the aperture. It was only there for a fleeting second, as if the person were passing by, but it was enough to force Niles to bite his fist to contain a yelp. For a long moment he held his breath, plagued by intrusive thoughts about which of his captives crewmates it was going to be that had arrived to seek revenge </p>
<p>The crunching of the snow had stopped and NIles briefly considered venturing outside to make sure that whoever this person was, they didn’t get the jump on him. In the end his cowardice  (or self-preservation) won out and he settled for a hasty look out the window. At a snail's pace, he sidled up to the opening from his position underneath it and leaned his head just enough to peak out to the snowy wasteland without revealing too much of his form.</p>
<p>A lone buck grazed peacefully underneath one of the pines at a patch of half dead grass, unperturbed by the harsh gale. Niles felt like kicking himself. He slumped against the cabin wall and slid to the ground, still clutching his weapon. For the first time, he was glad to be alone (not counting unconscious pirates). If any of his fellow marines had seen him in such a state, quivering in his boots at the presence of such timid wildlife, he’d never live it down.</p>
<p>He didn’t get the chance to wallow in self-bereavement long however, as at that moment the door was kicked off its hinges. The deafening crack of splintering wood and rusted iron sent Niles' already erratic heartbeat into overdrive and he scurried over to the meager cover provided by the wooden table that was overturned by the force of the entry. Keeping a steel grip on his rifle Niles dared a glance.</p>
<p>The intruder was a woman. At least twice the size of Niles if the way she had to bend down to get through the doorway was any indication, and sporting two angry looking red horns that sprang from a sea of white, blue and purple hair. She tugged irritably at the fur collar of her great coat with one hand, as if she wasn’t used to it, using the other to heft a spiked club that looked as dangerous as it looked heavy. The overall menacing figure she cut was somewhat contrasted by the distressed look on her face. She either hadn’t seen the marine observing her yet or she simply didn’t care, either way she scanned the rest of the darkened room eagerly, stopping once her eyes landed on the prone figure of Strawhat. Her face lit up like a lantern, and she heaved a deep sigh of relief.</p>
<p>“There you are,” she said in a breathy chuckle, striding towards the man with purpose. She knelt before him, reaching out to stroke his cheek softly with the back of her hand. “You’re such a pain in the ass, you know that?” evidently this fact wasn’t enough to stop the warm smile that graced her. Even in the dim light of the chiminea, Niles could see her affection. He shifted uncomfortably, suddenly struck with the feeling that he was intruding on the moment. The slight movement was all it took to draw the attention of the intimidating woman, her head turning toward the marine with the relaxed poise of a predator. Niles couldn’t help but play up his part as the prey, staring back wide-eyed.</p>
<p>“Seeing as he has not frozen to death, I suppose I should be thanking you,” she spoke slowly, as if the man in front of her was liable to bolt, which in all fairness wasn’t too far off the mark. She held out one hand, the one not holding the iron slab of a weapon, and looked at Niles expectantly “If you give me the key, I would be willing to ignore the fact that you locked him up in the first place,” NIles didn’t have to think to hard to understand the underlying threat.</p>
<p>Instead of waiting for a reply, the giant woman set to work position her companion on her back. She threaded her head through the loop of his bound hands, taking extra care around the points of her horns, until his arms draped loosely across her broad shoulders, head resting in the crook of her neck. She shrugged a few times to get his body into a comfortable position before craning her neck rather awkwardly and placing a feather-light kiss on the man’s forehead. She smiled softly. </p>
<p>Turning back to face Niles once again, the woman spoke “I understand that you can’t willingly help a pirate but I must insist that you give me the key. You can tell your superiors that I took them by force if you like,” she took a step forward and Niles felt his hand move by itself. Before his actions could even register in his brain, he’d fumbled the key from his pocket and thrown it at the feet of his new friend. In response, said friend gave a low respectful bow, the likes of which Niles had never been on the receiving end of, and plucked the key from the floor with haste. “Thank you Mr. Marine, I will try to remember your face, in case we cross paths again,” she said, turning sharply and striding towards the eviscerated doorway. The icy wastes outside did not seem to phase her as she marched headlong into them, disappearing from sight soon after leaving the relative calm of the shack. </p>
<p>She left just as swiftly as she had arrived, taking Niles’ career prospects with her. The thoroughly shell-shocked marine gaped out into the wilds and sagged into the only chair left standing, his less than useless rifle slipped from his hand, clattering to the floor to join the other pieces of debris. With a calm he thought impossible moments ago, Niles reached into his pocket and retrieved his lighter alongside a small carton of half smoked cigarettes. He hung one loosely between his lips, igniting the tip with practiced ease and took a deep drag, allowing the nicotine to take the edge off. </p>
<p>He sat there for a while, savouring the smoke and attempting to wrap his head around the last few hours of his life. He wasn’t entirely convinced that he hadn’t just imagined the whole thing, some sort of delirium from the cold. One glance at the crumbled remains of a door to his left dissuaded him of that notion, however. </p>
<p>Flicking the stubbed remains of his cigarette to the floor, grinding it with his heel, Niles got to his feet with a groan. He was already beyond late for his report delivery so he didn’t want to give his superiors too much ammunition to use against him by missing evening muster as well. Begrudgingly, he dragged himself out the door, alot closer to considering retirement than he had been that very morning.</p>
<p>~~~</p>
<p>For the most part, Yamato found very few difficulties in being larger than the average human, but delicate maneuvers involving small objects such as keys to handcuffs was definitely one of them. Her large, powerful hands served only to hinder her in her task of threading the key into the shackles binding Luffy's wrists while simultaneously ploughing through thick snow drifts on her way back to the ship. Luffy’s position didn’t do her any favors either. Out cold, arms draped around her neck like a rubbery scarf, hands half out of view below her chin, meaning all of Yamato’s attempts to find the keyhole were semi-blind. It was only the serene look on his unconscious face that prevented Yamato from dunking his head in the snow out of frustration. </p>
<p>Several tries (and several curses) later, The Oni managed to free her annoying captain from his bonds, the muted grey metal falling soundlessly to the snow covered ground. Yamato barked out a smug laugh at her triumph over the damn cuffs and trudged onwards, taking care not to let Luffy slide off of her back. His hands twitched in response to the removal of his bindings, no doubt invigorated by the lack of seastone.</p>
<p>She tried desperately to suppress it, but a terrifying voice in the back of Yamato’s mind attempted to raise the question as to why Luffy wasn’t waking up properly. She shoved it down mercilessly, alongside her guilt of having been the one to put her captain in this predicament in the first place. Panicking would get her nowhere and so, she soldiered on, fighting the rising tide of self-admonishment that came with remembering the mornings events.</p>
<p>For once, Lulfy had actively tried to convince her to forgo their daily sparring, claiming that the snowy climate was just perfect for goofing off with Usopp and Chopper. Yamato had been forced to employ her secret weapon of soft kisses and puppy dog eyes to get him to agree, a tactic that was strangely effective on the rubber man, much to his embarrassment (and to the rest of the crew’s amusement). It hadn’t taken long for him to change his mind after that, and soon enough the two were trading blows along the white shore to the cheers of their crew mates. Still, Yamato could tell that his heart wasn’t in it. A snowman based distraction from Usopp and one (un)lucky blow from her was all that it had taken to send Luffy flying, unconscious form, hurtling toward the centre of the island. She had barely let Nami hand her a coat before she shot off after him.</p>
<p>The feelings of guilt resurfaced in her traitorous mind at the thought of Nami. The rational side of her knew that the crew did not blame her. The accident and been just that, an accident. One that Luffy would more than likely walk away from with nothing but a few bruises and a funny story to tell and yet, in her mind's eye, Yamato could see their glares. </p>
<p>It had been a few months since she had become a Strawhat and she already felt as if she were part of the furniture. Training with Zoro or swimming with Jinbei, singing along with Chopper and Usopp to one of Brook’s melodies and lounging with Nami and Robin: Yamato felt truly at peace with them. Now she could think of nothing but being shunned by her new family for harming their beloved captain.</p>
<p>Stop being so dramatic and get back to the ship already she thought, shaking her head clear of any intrusive, imagined scenarios. She managed to hike another five feet before they came back in full force.</p>
<p>It carried on that way for a long while, mind and heart racing with ‘what if’s’, until a large exhale of breath brushed her collarbone, accompanied by an annoyed groan. A wave of relief like no other washed over Yamato, and she could barely contain her excitement as she called his name, craning her neck to get a better look at his groggy face “Luffy! You’re okay!” she beamed.</p>
<p>“Yamato…” he grunted, eyes blurry from his long nap “What happened?” he stuck his tongue out of his mouth in an exasperated manner “Bleghhhhhh, why do I feel so drained?” </p>
<p>Yamato giggled, amused by how easily he could be distracted. “What's the last thing you remember, Luffy?” she asked. Luffy stretched out his neck until he was face to face with her and she was grateful for not having to bend her own. Some might find issue with conversing with what is essentially a floating head, but Yamato had grown so used to his ability over the past few months that his elongated neck seemed barely out of the ordinary.</p>
<p>He looked at her thoughtfully, a hard ask for the rubber man “Hmmmm, I remember building snowmen... and then you wanted to fight,” he blushed a little, clearly remembering her methods of persuasion. “And theeeen…” his face twisted in thought for a few seconds more before a look of revelation flashed his eyes. Yamato prepared her apology, but found herself cut short when Luffy began to laugh. “Shishishi, you really got me good huh?”.</p>
<p>Yamato stared into his boyish face, devoid of deception and realised then and there that she had been worried for nothing. She couldn't help but laugh a little as well. Of course, she thought I should have expected.</p>
<p>“I should probably apologise for that, It wasn’t my intention to hit you while you were distracted,” she gave him a warm smile that was only ever so slightly sheepish, her guilt still lingering somewhat even after his awakening. Nevertheless, Luffy returned the smile wholeheartedly, shattering any of Yamato’s residual contrition.</p>
<p>His face twisted slightly in confusion while his eyes scanned the area “How did you find me outhere anyway?”</p>
<p>“A man from the Navy had captured you,” Yamato said offhandedly, as if this were nothing important “He was quite reasonable though, I convinced him to give you back.”</p>
<p>This made Luffy smile “See? Told ya they ain’t all bad,” he said.</p>
<p>Yamato could only chuckle at his childlike faith in the good nature of people. “Has anyone ever told you, you’re too nice sometimes?”.</p>
<p>He cocked his head to the side “Too nice?” he asked, an impish look overtaking his features just before he retracted his neck. “In that case…”.</p>
<p>She could hear him snickering in her ear and suddenly felt suspicious. Narrowing her eyes slightly, Yamato arched her neck once again to get a better look at his scheming face. “What's with the giggling, you?” she asked, one eyebrow raised. His ear to ear grin sent a warm feeling throughout her chest, her heart set ablaze and her suspicions raised simultaneously. Damn, he was adorable when he was up to something. </p>
<p>“Shishishi, Yamato needs to pay me back for earlier,” his snickering increased ten-fold before he cleared his throat and took on an air of self importance. “It’s cold out here so, as captain, I order Yamato to be my personal heater until we get back to the Sunny.” he finished, accompanied by several nods. Then, without any forewarning, he stuck his ice cold hands into the back-collar of Yamato’s coat.</p>
<p>“Personal heater? What are you talking about Luff-EEEEE STOP THAT!” she screeched in horror, arms flailing, her sounds of protest the only thing drowning out Luffy’s raucous laughter. Eventually, after much struggle, Yamato came to accept her new lot in life as a portable radiator, deciding that she would get her revenge on her captain later. She grinned evilly when he continued to giggle in her ear., her plan already half formed. </p>
<p>The voice in the back of her mind long forgotten, she forged through the snow, allowing her captain's presence to replace her doubts with a warmth she held solely for him. She had Luffy back now and that was all that mattered, even if her mind was currently occupied with mischievous revenge that may or may not involve her secret weapon.</p>
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